Cobra Kai

Episode Reviews

Nov. 15, 2024 – S6, E6: “Benvinguts a Barcelona”

The students of Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai karate dojos head to Barcelona to participate in the Sekai Taikai martial arts tournament. Daniel and Johnny try to put on a good show for karate elite. Meanwhile their students navigate the betrayal of Tory, who has left Miyagi-Do to train with Kreese at Cobra Kai once again.

People engage in karate for the tournament. There’s plenty of kicking and punching, but nobody is seriously harmed since it’s all within regulations. Many threats are exchanged. We hear that Kreese’s business partner, Kim, broke Tory’s hand during training. (Tory’s injury has since healed.) A man smashes several flower pots in anger. Kim and Kreese both promote aggression in their students, manipulating Tory’s grief (after she’s just lost her mom). Their students often bully the students of other dojos.

A man goes to make amends with his ex-girlfriend, but the door is answered by another man wearing only a towel. Johnny makes some inappropriate comments about modeling and pornography in reference to karate students. A photographer tells tournament captains to look “sexier” for a photo.

Friends express feelings of betrayal about Tory. Most of the Miyagi students worry she’s being used by Kreese. Daniel and Johnny disagree about who is responsible for her choice—and Johnny acts out, starting petty arguments everywhere he goes. And Tory’s boyfriend, Robby, finds himself humiliated after letting their strained relationship take his focus off karate.

Adults drink at a cocktail mixer. But Daniel and Johnny’s fellow sensei, Chozen, shows up drunk and gets them all kicked out. Someone passes gas in his sleep. Robby’s teammates are angry after he loses one of their hotel rooms in a bet.

There are a handful of s-words. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “douche,” “h—” and “p–ck.” God’s name is misused twice.

July 18, 2024 – S6, E1: “Peacetime in the Valley”

Daniel, Johnny and rival-turned-friend Chozen debate on what to call their combined dojo—and Daniel worries that the argument might cause unnecessary division.

People fight using karate, throwing opponents to the ground.

Someone is mockingly called “penis breath.” Someone jokes about going to a strip club. A man stumbles into a kitchen in his bathrobe. A boy and girl share a kiss. We hear references to urine, intoxication and male genitalia. A man is shirtless.

A man drinks wine. Someone smokes a cigar.

The s-word is used nine times, and “p—y” is heard three times. We also hear “h—,” “b–ch” and “a–.” God’s name is used in vain once.

Sept. 9, 2022 – S5, E1: “Long, Long Way from Home”

While Miguel, one of Johnny’s students, travels around Mexico in search of his father, Johnny and his son Robby reconnect while they try to find Miguel and bring him home. Meanwhile, Daniel and previous rival Chozen discuss how to take the crazy Terry Silver out of Cobra Kai.

Chozen swims in the nude, and his rear is partially visible. A woman sees the naked Chozen from the front. A poster shows a woman in skimpy attire. A man and woman kiss. Johnny gets his son a shirt that reads, “Female Body Inspector.”

Men steal Miguel’s backpack and rob him. Miguel takes down an attacker. Johnny and Robby beat up a group of thugs. A child is nearly hit by an unrelenting car.

People drink beer at a bar.

The f-word is used three times, and the s-word is used four times. “D–k,” “a–,” “h—” and “d–n” are all used. Additionally, people are called “p-ssants” and “d–chebag.” God’s name is misused twice, including one instance of “g-dd–n.”

Dec. 31, 2021 – S4, E10: “The Rise”

The All Valley Championship is under way with a Kreese-led Cobra Kai leading, forcing Daniel and Johnny to reevaluate their strategies for winning.

A man resists arrest, hitting a police officer. Kids punch and kick each other in karate matches. A woman says she enjoyed watching her grandson kick another child in the face. A young boy gets a bloody nose after getting hit in the face. The same boy later beats up his former bully in a locker room, promising to deliver worse the following school year as revenge. A grown man encourages teenagers to use their anger in fights. A former bully asks her opponent if she is OK after accidentally injuring her in a karate match. A man lies in a hospital bed after beating beaten half to death in a previous episode (which we see a flashback of). He fibs about the person who assaulted him to the police.

A teenage couple kisses. Two boys remove their shirts for a karate match. We learn a mother never told her son’s father that the son exists. Teenagers teach their parents and senseis to let go of pride. Parents also learn not to live vicariously through their kids (although a few mentors fail to realize this). There are many guilt trips. A teenage girl chooses not to cheat even when her sensei encourages her to. (She’s later devastated to learn her sensei cheated and questions her victory.) A boy runs away from home. Adults drink alcohol.

We hear uses of the s-word, as well as “a–,” “d–n” and “h—.” There is also a play on words with someone’s name to sound like a profanity.

Dec. 31, 2021 – S4, E1: “Let’s Begin”

After Daniel and Johnny make a bet with Kreese over the outcome of the All Valley Championship—losers must shut down their dojos forever—the two men band together to train their karate pupils for the match.

We see lots of sparring between karate senseis and students. Johnny singles out students to act as target practice when they upset him. A few characters walk away sporting aching bones and muscles but are ultimately OK. We hear about war deaths from two former soldiers. We also hear about non-sanctioned fights from previous seasons (including one where a small boy was thrown through a window).

A homeless teen is taken in by Kreese. (The boy also calls his dad a “drunk loser” and shows disdain when his dad tries to reconnect with him.) Someone vomits. People drink alcohol.

A girl wears a mid-riff-baring shirt. A woman thinks her grandson is having sex. Flashbacks to previous Karate Kid films show a shirtless man in a sauna. The same man admits in the present that he used cocaine in the past.

We hear uses of the s-word, as well as “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–k,” “h—,” “p-ss” and “p—y.” God’s name is abused a few times. There are a few crude terms for male genitals. At one point, Daniel scolds Johnny for “shouting obscenities” at students.

Jan. 1, 2021 – S3, E10: “December 19”

A few days before Christmas, Daniel’s and Johnny’s students are brutally attacked by the pupils of Cobra Kai.

We see a flashback to Kreese’s time in the Vietnam War where he and his fellow POWs were forced to fight each other to the death (and we see two men thrown off a platform into a pit of snakes). In the present, Kreese’s pupils fight against Johnny and Daniel’s, wrecking the Miyagi dojo and leaving several teens heavily cut and bruised. While fighting Kreese, Johnny accidentally hits his son, Robby. Kreese attempts to strangle Johnny and later nearly stabs Daniel while fighting. A boy is thrown through a glass window.

People drink alcohol and dance at a party. We hear multiple uses of the s-word, “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d–k,” “h—” and “p–sy.” We hear a few misuses of God’s and Christ’s names. And someone is also called “penis-breath.”

Jan. 1, 2021 – S3, E1: “Aftermath”

Everyone recovers from the aftermath of the karate showdown at school that resulted in several injured students, with others getting expelled or suspended.

We see several karate fights, including flashbacks from the violent school battle that show people getting cut, thrown into glass trophy cases and a boy breaking his back after falling onto a railing. A man smashes a car window before getting into a fistfight with the passengers. Johnny purposely smashes his own head, causing it to bleed heavily. (He also lifts his shirt to show a giant bruise on his back.)

People drink alcohol. There are jokes about porn and masturbation. Teen girls are objectified by their male classmates. We see a man’s infected foot. We learn that Robby stole a car.

A woman wearing a cross necklace prays with a rosary.

We hear multiple uses of the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “h—” and “p–sy.” We also hear misuses of God’s name.

Apr. 25, 2019 – S2, E1: “Mercy Part II”

Daniel LaRusso works with mortal enemy Johnny Lawrence’s son, Robby Keene, to build a new dojo where mercy is the motto. Daniel’s daughter, Samantha, heals from a breakup with ex-boyfriend, Miguel. Johnny tries to reinstate new, more merciful rules at Cobra Kai after his old, ruthless sensei, John Kreese, comes back into town.

Johnny gets into a fight with his old sensei. The two kick and punch one another in the face, stomach and limbs. Johnny is thrown against a glass mirror and it shatters. Johnny’s son, Robby, tries to forgive his father. An elderly man flirts with and objectifies a waitress. A girl and her boyfriend break up. A man smokes a cigar that, once kicked out of his mouth, starts a fire.

Men drink beer and two teens are denied alcohol when they present fake ID’s. Grown men utter a few death threats.

The s-word is heard once and other profanity includes multiple uses of “h—,” “b–ch,” “p-ssy,” “a–,” “bada–,” “screw you” and “pr–k.”

May 2, 2018 – S1, E1: “Ace Degenerate”

Thirty-four years after losing to Daniel LaRusso in a climactic karate match, Johnny Lawrence has never recovered his mojo. But when the heavy-drinking handyman comes into some unexpected cash and defends a young neighbor from a group of thugs, he discovers a new aspiration: Reopening the Cobra Kai dojo and passing on a passion for karate to a new generation.

Johnny receives his moment of inspiration from an old 1980s movie, when a narrator intones, “God doesn’t give people things he doesn’t want ’em to use.” Then again, Johnny gleans this insight when he’s pretty drunk, too, with empty beer bottles scattered across his table and him pouring more liquor into whatever else he’s drinking. He later hops in his Pontiac Firebird, liquor bottle in tow, and drinks and drives. We learn that he’s a deadbeat dad, too: He hasn’t seen his teen son in years. When a young neighbor, Miguel, tries to befriend him, Johnny dismisses him: “Great, more immigrants,” he says. Then he tells the teen, “The only thing good about being here is I don’t have to talk to anybody.” But when Miguel runs into a group of bullies who pour a bottle of Pepto-Bismol over his head (a bottle meant to help alleviate his grandmother’s ailing stomach) and who punch him in the gut, Johnny intervenes, pummeling the lot into submission. (We see lots of hands and feet fly, as well as a couple of chokeholds made.) Johnny gets sprayed with Mace by police.

In flashback, we see Daniel and Johnny fight, and Johnny hammers on Daniel’s already-injured leg. Johnny and Daniel talk about the fight, with Johnny insisting Daniel’s finishing kick was illegal. There’s a reference made, in Spanish, to someone’s supposedly small male anatomy, and we hear another aside that apparently references the female genitals of an old spouse. Johnny plucks a dead rat from a gutter. There’s a reference to smelling like a septic system. Teens visit a convenience store to buy beer and, it’s said, condoms.

Characters use the s-word eight times. Other profanities used include “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” “p-ss” and “p—y.” God’s name is misused thrice, including once with the word “d–n.”